National Herald case: ED set to quiz Sonia Gandhi; Congress to hit the streets again
Claiming that the agency's action against its top leadership was part of "political vendetta", the opposition party cadre and leaders are set to converge at the All India Congress Committee headquarters to stage protests.
FollowWith Congress chief Sonia Gandhi all set to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case related to the National Herald-AJL case, her party is set to launch protests across the country against her questioning in the case.Â
Claiming that the agency's action against its top leadership was part of "political vendetta", the opposition party cadre and leaders are set to converge at the All India Congress Committee headquarters to stage protests.
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The Grand Old Party launched similar protests when Sonia's son and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi was interrogated by the agency in June.
According to Congress sources, party leaders, including MPs, will march toward the Enforcement Directorate office.
A brainstorming session to chalk out the strategy to deal with the alleged "misuse" of the ED by the Narendra Modi government was held on Wednesday at the residence of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.Â
The party took to Twitter to throw its weight behind Sonia Gandhi and said that the 'entire Congress family' was standing firmly with its President. The party made it clear that on Thursday it will stage protests against the "dictatorial rule of BJP" across the country.
Congress leaders and cadre are also planning to hold protests outside Enforcement Directorate offices in different state capitals.
In the national capital, sources said, the Congress may also protest along with leaders of other opposition parties inside the Parliament complex.Â
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the entire Congress party would protest across the country in a 'most telling manner' against 'political vendetta'.Â
"Tomorrow, as the political vendetta unleashed by the Modi-Shah duo against our top leadership continues, the entire Congress party across the country will demonstrate its collective solidarity with Sonia Gandhi in a most telling manner," Ramesh said on Twitter.
When Rahul was questioned for several days by the central agency, Congress leaders and workers, including party MPs, had courted arrest. Many party leaders were detained, taken to faraway locations, and released only at midnight. Some other Congress leaders, including Kharge, have also recorded their statements before the agency in the same case.
Barricades have already been put up around the Congress office on Akbar Road in anticipation of a repeat of the protests. Congress MPs had then raised strong objections and even lodged complaints against the Delhi Police's alleged "high-handedness" to the President, Vice President and the Lok Sabha Speaker.Â
Congress leader Pawan Khera alleged that the Modi government had "created a tradition of targeting the party's top leadership" by misusing probe agencies.
"We will oppose at all levels, inside and outside Parliament, against this kind of 'vendetta politics' unleashed by the Modi-Shah duo. Protests against this kind of dirty politics will be done all over the country," he said.
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